OCC baseball championship coming down to final game for Wooster

  • brian questel
  • May 18, 2011
  • 250
                        
050523 OCCbaseball Promo: Generals drop heartbreaker to Arrows, but still have OCC title hopes OCC baseball championship coming down to final game for Wooster By Brian Questel Like the best championship seasons, the Ohio Cardinal Conference baseball race is going down to the final game. The good news for the Wooster Generals is they are still in the OCC race, but the bad news is they are in the chase seat. The Generals, 17-5 overall, fell out of the OCC’s driver’s seat Friday (May 13) and Saturday with a heartbreaking, 2-1 loss in eight innings to Ashland. The victory jumped the Arrows to 11-0 in the OCC, ahead of the 12-1 Generals. The two teams played Friday night before rain wiped the game out just after the 17-3 Arrows had plated a run in the top of the eighth inning. They locked horns the following morning and Wooster put two runners on in the bottom of the frame but couldn’t push a run across the plate. Then Mother Nature rolled in again, short-circuiting the second game and postponing it for a week. “That was kinda rough,” said Wooster coach Derek Boyd. “We pitched well and Devin (Daugherty) threw an outstanding game and gave us everything we could ask for 7.2 innings. We played good defense, but we left too many guys on base. “We told the kids it was one of those game … we expected to be close and you have to be solid in all three phases of the game. We did two very well, but we left 14 runners on base. That to me was the most disappointing part. We never got the big hit we needed. “We had 10 hits and they walked us six times,” said Boyd. “It was just not producing at the key time. It was one of those things. We didn’t string enough hits together. Leaving that many on is tough. We had the bases loaded three times with one out and didn’t score. It frustrates you – at some point, you feel someone has to come through, but that’s baseball. It can be extremely frustrating.” What is frustrating, too, is that the Generals are in a wait-and-see mode when the rematch with the Arrows will come thanks to the weather. “After we lost Saturday, the kids were disappointed, but I don’t believe there was anyone in the dugout that won’t believe we won’t win the next time we play,” said Boyd. “We just don’t know when that will be. Ashland is in the middle of (two) make-up (OCC) games with West Holmes and their tournament game, and (Monday’s) game was canceled. “We knew going there Saturday we were going to see their No. 1. … No one is going to feel sorry for us. We’re going to go out and do what we’ve been doing. The harder part I’m worried about isn’t so much not knowing when we’re going to play, but being sharp and trying to get games in. I’ve got two games scheduled for this week, so I hope that will help us keep sharp. I don’t want to go back into the Gault for a week.” Boyd had scheduled a game with No.2-ranked Massillon Tuesday, which was rained out, and a similar fate loomed for Wednesday’s non-OCC matchup with Mansfield Madison, altering Boyd’s plan. That same weather rocked Ashland’s game schedule, too, though. “We’re planning to take Luke (McGee) and go with him and see what takes place,” said Boyd of the last game with the Arrows. “Our ace against theirs. I couldn’t tell you the next time or where it’ll be … but we’ll be ready to go. If Luke has trouble, we’ll throw Mike (Eisel) back out and I’m sure Devin would want to go back after 120 pitches. I think he’d be more than happy to go back out.” Wooster won its opening sectional game against Canton McKinley, winning 4-1, but lost the next night to a Green team 9-0, tone hat is two years removed from a state semifinal appearance. “In our game against McKinley our kids played really well,” said Boyd. “We had a great outing from Luke. We played hard and good defense – and we got timely hits that game. Luke had a big 2-run double, which was the insurance we needed. The exciting thing for me was seeing the enthusiasm not only on the field, but in the stands. I’ve had the opportunity to be in a lot of tournament games and been in some pretty enjoyable tournament wins, and one thing I enjoyed was seeing the excitement (in the McKinley game). “Then we had the tall task of going to Green and we ran into a very good pitcher who neutralized our bats. It’s hard to win when you only get two hits. They hit the ball hard and we didn’t. “I told the boys we need to get to that level.”


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